postmodernism in fashion essay

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

Vivienne westwood (born 1941) and the postmodern legacy of punk style.

Vivienne Westwood

Shannon Price The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

Vivienne Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, Derbyshire, in 1941 and has come to be known as one of the most influential British fashion designers of the twentieth century. While she is latterly credited with introducing “underwear as outerwear,” reviving the corset, and inventing the “mini-crini,” 1 her earliest and most formative association is with the subcultural fashion and youth movement known as punk. 2

Mother of Punk Vivienne Westwood is often cited as punk’s creator, but the complex genesis of punk is also found in England’s depressed economic and sociopolitical conditions of the mid-1970s. Punk was as much a youthful reaction against older generations, considered oppressive and outdated, as a product of the newly recognized and influential youth culture. Creative and entrepreneurial people, such as Westwood, often contribute to an aesthetic that brings a subcultural style to the forefront of fashion. However, it would be simplistic to claim, as many have, that Westwood and her one-time partner Malcolm McLaren were uniquely responsible for the visual construction of punk in the mid-1970s, though much of their work captured and commodified the energy and iconoclastic tendencies of the movement. 3

The New York Effect In the early 1970s, the socioeconomics of New York City were no better than London’s. Local rock groups were reinventing music and style in protest against what had become perceived as the star-centered, showy, and elitist mentality of ’60s super-groups such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. These local bands, such as the New York Dolls and performer Richard Hell, were breaking down barriers at the infamous proto-punk club, Max’s. Hell was well known for his nihilistic lyrics and wearing of self-styled ripped T-shirts bearing slogans like “Please Kill Me.” The original fanzine of the era, PUNK , was published in New York City and is credited with the first use of the term. Malcolm McLaren, Westwood’s boyfriend and “partner in crime,” was living in New York during this time and briefly managed the New York Dolls. According to punk lore, McLaren took this radical New York aesthetic back to London, where he opened the SEX clothing shop with Westwood and managed the Sex Pistols, creating a media frenzy and a prosperous symbiotic relationship between music and fashion that effectively set the tone of popular culture for decades to come.

Anarchy in the U.K. Westwood, a former schoolteacher, was the seamstress in the SEX shop partnership with McLaren and made manifest their combined punk vision through her creations. Westwood designed both her and McLaren’s clothing before they opened their first store, Let It Rock, in 1971. Let It Rock catered to the “Teddy Boy” subculture, which was a 1950s revival look. In 1972, they renamed the store Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die, and changed the focus to emphasize the emergence of the Marlon Brando-influenced rocker/biker style that was popular at the time. In 1974, they again changed the name of the shop to reflect McLaren’s new shock tactics, this time to SEX, where they sold S&M (sado-masochistic) inspired clothing, met the Sex Pistols, and added their punk line, Seditionaries, 4 in 1976. 5 SEX was the center of the punk fashion scene and many young punks hung out, worked, or bought clothes there when they could afford them. Shrewd entrepreneurs, Westwood and McLaren were instrumental in defining and marketing the punk look at the precise moment that it was taking the streets of London by storm.

Rotten, Vicious Fashion Childhood friends Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious claim names that evoke the true essence of punk. The Sex Pistols, their short-lived and infamous band, changed the face of music and gave voice to a disenfranchised generation. The Sex Pistols were working-class, antagonistic, innovative teenagers turned “punk” before it had a name. 6 The clothing popularized by the Sex Pistols could be seen as a reaction against, as well as the culmination of, a long line of proscribed postwar British subcultural styles, including mods, skinheads, rastas, and rudies.

The Sex Pistols needed a manager to guide them and McLaren and Westwood needed an outlet for their ideas, both fashionable and political. To this day, there is much debate about whether McLaren was the architect of punk ideology. A known Situationist, 7 McLaren supposedly created the Sex Pistols solely as a marketing tool for the SEX shop, but singer Johnny Rotten disputes this, emphasizing that the band existed prior to the collaboration with Westwood and McLaren but were used as models for the ideal punk look through their stage clothes often supplied by SEX. 8

Deconstructing Punk Punk was trash culture gone avant-garde and/or the avant-garde gone trash, and just as Dada had tried to destroy the institution of art, so the punks seemed bent on destroying the very institution of fashion. 9

Philosopher Jacques Derrida’s concept of “deconstruction,” a term used to describe the process of uncovering the multiplicity of meanings in text, has been used to analyze everything from modern art to architecture. As applied to fashion, deconstruction has come to imply a decoding of both meaning and designer intent, as well as a descriptive term for certain structural characteristics.

The punk look has come to be associated with clothing that has been destroyed, has been put back together, is inside out, is unfinished, or is deteriorating. 10 Punk was an early manifestation of deconstructionist fashion, which is an important component of late twentieth-century postmodern style and continues to be seen in the work of contemporary fashion designers such as Rei Kawakubo and Martin Margiela.

“A Nightmare of Interchangeable Surfaces” 11 The definition of postmodern is elusive, but its connection to punk ideology and style appears intrinsic:

“On the one hand, to designate oneself as ‘post’ anything, is to admit a certain exhaustion, diminution or decay. Someone who inhabits a post-culture is a late comer to a party … Belatedness may also imply a certain dependence, for the post-culture cannot even define itself in any free-standing way, but is condemned to the parasitic prolongation of some vanished cultural achievement.” 12

Many scholars see this incessant atavism, this self-referential bricolage , as precisely what defines the postmodern, a term frequently used to describe the designs of Vivienne Westwood and punk fashion in general. The do-it-yourself attitude of punk styling was a unique product of a particular sociocultural history after which, during the 1980s and ’90s, global style continued to evolve along the same aesthetic trajectory. Other elements that have recently been associated with the postmodern mode include clothing and imagery that appear dirty, ripped, scarred, shocking, spectacular, cruel, traumatized, sick, or alienating 13 —all of these were qualities actively sought by Vivienne Westwood and the punks of the 1970s.

Postmodernism = No Future Punk was both a product and a victim of late capitalism. As the most quickly digested of all previous youth subcultures, it came to fruition and fell victim to mass marketing in less than three years. 14 Since then, punk has never entirely gone out of style. Soon after the Sex Pistols disbanded in 1978, one could see punks everywhere in London, the U.S., and elsewhere. One still sees flamboyant teenagers wearing bondage trousers and studded leather motorcycle jackets on streets such as St. Marks Place in New York City, where these garments are still sold in quantity. Punk has even taken more than one turn at being an inspiration for haute couture . In the twenty-first century, punk and hip-hop, another subcultural style born of strife, have been fused together into what has become the standard look for contemporary youth.

The Costume Institute’s collection of Vivienne Westwood’s early work pays homage to punk’s influence and situates historically these authentic garments of a subcultural style that has few rivals in its continued influence on Western fashion’s mavericks.

1 A Victorian-inspired short hooped skirt. 2 “Punk: A British subculture of the mid-1970s epitomized by the look and attitude of The Sex Pistols. The style most often associated with Punk involves bondage trousers worn with ripped T-shirts with anarchic slogans and boots. Hair and make-up was an integral part of Punk—hair was dyed violently bright colours and made to stand up on end, and facial piercing (particularly cheeks and noses) became popular.” Amy de la Haye and Cathie Dingwall, Surfers, Soulies, Skinheads & Skaters (New York: Overlook Press, 1996), p. 13. 3 Christopher Breward, The Culture of Fashion (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995), p. 233. 4 “Sedition: The stirring up of discontent, resistance, or rebellion against the government in power; revolt or rebellion.” Webster’s New World College Dictionary, Third Edition (New York: Macmillan, 1988), p. 1214. Vivienne Westwood: “The word ‘seditionaries’ … has always meant to me the necessity to seduce people into revolt.” Chester, Lewis. Mother of Punk in “Hot Air”, UK (1998), p. 62. 5 At the end of the 1970s, the name of the shop became World’s End, after the London neighborhood in which it is located. 6 John Gray, a longtime childhood friend: “Even in those days John had the green hair and wore a baseball cap from back to front. He wore baggy army trousers and a T-shirt with holes.” John Lydon, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs (New York: Picador, 1994), p. 39. 7 “A quasi-anarchistic group formed in Paris in 1957, a political evolution from the avant-garde ideas of Dada and Surrealism earlier in the century. The aim of their political philosophy was to re-empower the proletariat, whose lives were summed up in the Situationist slogan: metro-boulot-TV-dodo (subway-work-TV-sleep). They felt that in what they dubbed the Society of the Spectacle people had turned into consumers of mediated events, mediated ideas and mediated actions, and that their role was to challenge that enforced passivity by breaking down the barriers between direct and mediated experience. The artist depicting situations and feelings was merely colluding with the forces that created the Society of the Spectacle. The role of the artists, as they saw it, was to create challenging situations.” Nils Stevenson, Vacant: A Diary of the Punk Years, 1976–1979 (New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999), p. 8. 8 Lydon, Rotten , p. 70. 9 Elizabeth Wilson, Bohemians: The Glamorous Outcasts (New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000), p. 173. 10 These are characteristics that are easily seen in extant Seditionaries garments featured in the holdings of The Costume Institute. 11 Steven Connor, Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary , 2d ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1997), p. 216. 12 Ibid., p. 65. 13 For an exhaustive and inspired exploration of these aspects of late twentieth-century fashion, see Caroline Evans, Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003). 14 Today the turnaround of the process of acculturation is much shorter, ostensibly due to the speed of our media and our postmodern appetite for the new; so much so that subcultures may not even be recognized as such before they are scooped up and sold as the “next big thing.” Philosophers such as Jean-François Lyotard see this as the method by which the “Establishment” controls subversion and thereby retains control. This would help to explain why punk was absorbed and resold so quickly, effectively stripping it of its power and meaning. The style and antagonistic actions of the punks challenged the status quo of 1970s England in an overt way as no movement has had the opportunity to do since.

Price, Shannon. “Vivienne Westwood (born 1941) and the Postmodern Legacy of Punk Style.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vivw/hd_vivw.htm (October 2004)

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Postmodern fashion: a 'free-floating carnival of signs'?

While there were specific attributes associated with fashion in a modern setting, the use and meaning of certain garments is highly debated among scholars classifying contemporary society as postmodern. This essay will critically analyse the statements and theories established on modern and postmodern societies to clarify whether fashion in a postmodern setting can be considered free of referring to any external social referent. By analysing of the use and purpose of Japanese high school uniforms, I will ultimately argue that fashion and clothing should be regarded as anything but meaningless in a contemporary setting.

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Postmodernism

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Postmodernism by Hans Bertens LAST REVIEWED: 28 August 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 28 August 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190221911-0081

The terms “postmodern” and “postmodernism” first of all referred to new departures in the arts, in literature, and in architecture that had their origins in the 1950s and early 1960s, gained momentum in the course of the 1960s, and became a dominant factor in the 1970s. After their heyday in the 1980s, postmodern innovations had either run their course or were absorbed by the mainstream, if not commercialized by the advertising industry. On a more intangible level, the terms referred to the new “postmodern” sensibility that had given rise to those innovations, but that also manifested itself more broadly in, for instance, the so-called counterculture of the later 1960s. This postmodern sensibility was irreverent, playful, and ironic. It rejected the distinction between high art and popular culture and demystified the status of art and the artist. Its articulation in the form of literary criticism—where the label “postmodern” first gained wide currency—prefigured the theory-driven criticism that arose in the course of the 1970s and that was heavily indebted to French poststructuralism. In the next decade, this postmodern criticism or critique, an amalgam of poststructuralist ideas and assumptions, branched out into all directions, making itself felt in historiography, ethnography, musicology, religious studies, management and organization studies, legal studies, leisure studies, and other areas that unexpectedly experienced a postmodern moment, or even a more lasting postmodern reorientation. Finally, and at its most encompassing level, the term postmodern was applied to late-20th-century Western society as a whole. The argument here was that somewhere in the postwar period modernity had given way to a postmodernity that recognizably constituted a new economic and sociocultural formation. There was not much agreement as to the exact turning point, or on the nature, of the new “postmodern condition,” but its theorists, most of whom saw it as inextricably entangled with capitalism, even if some emphasized its emancipatory pursuit of heterogeneity and difference, argued that it was here to stay. If it did, it soon was left to its own devices. We have since the turn of the century not heard much about postmodernity. Postmodern criticism has fared better and though it, too, would seem to have run out of steam in the new millennium, it has fundamentally changed our perspectives on literature, architecture, the arts, and a host of other subjects, not the least of which is the rational, self-determined subject of Enlightenment humanism.

A good starting point is Butler 2002 which in spite of its brevity covers most of the essentials. While recognizing postmodernism’s importance and its positive contributions, it questions much of postmodern thought. Malpas 2005 is another short introduction and usefully juxtaposes modern and postmodern positions. Woods 2010 is the most thorough of introductions to postmodernism. Bertens 1995 is a wide-ranging study that traces the origins and rise of postmodernism as an intellectual concept and its dissemination into ever more disciplines. Connor 1997 focuses on postmodernism as the key to late-20th-century culture, discussing its impact in areas ranging from legal theory to style and fashion. Sim 2011 collects thoughtful essays on diverse aspects of postmodernism and provides a glossary of postmodern terms. Taylor and Winquist 2002 offers a wealth of information on postmodernism and everything relevant to its trajectory. Bertens and Natoli 2002 covers the key figures in the debate on postmodernism. McHale 2015 , trying to answer the question, “What was postmodernism?,” looks back on postmodernism with the advantage of hindsight. Natoli and Hutcheon 1993 and Jencks 2011 are readers that offer selections of important contributions to the debate, with Jencks including contributions on the impact of postmodernism in fields which have been relatively neglected.

Bertens, Hans. The Idea of the Postmodern: A History . London and New York: Routledge, 1995.

Traces the rise of postmodern thought from its beginnings in 1960s literary criticism to its global dissemination some twenty years onward, on the way offering detailed discussions of all major contributors to, and detractors of, postmodern theorizing. Sees postmodernism as part of the widespread postwar revaluation of values that also led to feminism and processes of decolonization.

Bertens, Hans, and Joseph Natoli, eds. Postmodernism: The Key Figures . Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 2002.

Fifty-three short and accessible essays on writers, philosophers, critics, and artists who have made important contributions to postmodernism in all its different aspects.

Butler, Christopher. Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

An excellent and accessible, but by no means uncritical, introduction. (“We should be prepared to see many postmodernist ideas as very interesting and influential, and as the key to some good experimental art—but at best confused and at worst simply untrue”) (p. 12).

Connor, Steven. Postmodernist Culture: An Introduction to Theories of the Contemporary . 2d ed. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1997.

A wide-ranging and highly insightful survey of postmodern artistic practices and theories. But also offers chapters on postmodern social and legal theory and postmodern cultural politics. Impressive but not without its challenges.

Jencks, Charles, ed. The Post-Modern Reader . 2d ed. Chicester, UK: Wiley, 2011.

Gathers twenty-six texts on postmodernism in general and on more specific subjects such as postmodern architecture, literature, and such relatively neglected topics as economics, sociology, and science. Includes texts by important figures—Jane Jacobs, John Barth, Umberto Eco, and others—who usually do not feature in anthologies.

Malpas, Simon. The Postmodern . London and New York: Routledge, 2005.

Discusses the differences between modern and postmodern architecture, arts, and literature, but also between modern and postmodern views of the subject, of history, and of politics. A good introduction.

McHale, Brian. The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodernism . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139108706

An important and comprehensive survey by one of postmodernism’s most prominent theorists. Periodizes the successive phases that McHale distinguishes within postmodernism’s history.

Natoli, Joseph, and Linda Hutcheon, eds. A Postmodern Reader . Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Collects essays and excerpts that have shaped the debate on modernism/postmodernism and on postmodern criticism. Includes contributions by Cornell West, bell hooks, and Houston A. Baker Jr. that discuss postmodernism from an Afro-American perspective.

Sim, Stuart, ed. The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism . 3d ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2011.

Presents some twenty quite accessible articles discussing postmodernism’s impact in widely varying areas, including the usual suspects—philosophy, the various arts, popular culture—but also postcolonial criticism and organization theory. Ends with what amounts to a substantial and useful dictionary of postmodern terminology.

Taylor, Vincent E., and Charles E. Winquist, eds. The Encyclopedia of Postmodernism . London and New York: Routledge, 2002.

Is what it claims to be. A truly exhaustive source of information on every aspect of postmodernism and postmodern theorizing and of everything conceivably relevant to postmodernism’s cultural and philosophical origins and its subsequent development.

Woods, Tim. Beginning Postmodernism . 2d ed. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2010.

A clear and accessible introduction to postmodernism that, apart from architecture, literature, and the arts, also discusses the postmodern impact on popular culture, cultural theory, the social sciences, and philosophy. The most basic introduction to postmodern practice and theory.

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Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Literature › Postmodernism

Postmodernism

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on March 31, 2016 • ( 22 )

Postmodernism broadly refers to a socio-cultural and literary theory, and a shift in perspective that has manifested in a variety of disciplines including the social sciences, art, architecture, literature, fashion, communications, and technology. It is generally agreed that the postmodern shift in perception began sometime back in the late 1950s, and is probably still continuing. Postmodernism can be associated with the power shifts and dehumanization of the post- Second World War era and the onslaught of consumer capitalism.

The very term Postmodernism implies a relation to Modernism . Modernism was an earlier aesthetic movement which was in vogue in the early decades of the twentieth century. It has often been said that Postmodernism is at once a continuation of and a break away from the Modernist stance.

Postmodernism shares many of the features of Modernism. Both schools reject the rigid boundaries between high and low art. Postmodernism even goes a step further and deliberately mixes low art with high art, the past with the future, or one genre with another. Such mixing of different, incongruous elements illustrates Postmodernism’s use of lighthearted parody, which was also used by Modernism. Both these schools also employed pastiche , which is the imitation of another’s style. Parody and pastiche serve to highlight the self-reflexivity of Modernist and Postmodernist works, which means that parody and pastiche serve to remind the reader that the work is not “real” but fictional, constructed. Modernist and Postmodernist works are also fragmented and do not easily, directly convey a solid meaning. That is, these works are consciously ambiguous and give way to multiple interpretations. The individual or subject depicted in these works is often decentred, without a central meaning or goal in life, and dehumanized, often losing individual characteristics and becoming merely the representative of an age or civilization, like Tiresias in The Waste Land .

In short, Modernism and Postmodernism give voice to the insecurities, disorientation and fragmentation of the 20th century western world. The western world, in the 20th century, began to experience this deep sense of security because it progressively lost its colonies in the Third World, worn apart by two major World Wars and found its intellectual and social foundations shaking under the impact of new social theories an developments such as Marxism and Postcolonial global migrations, new technologies and the power shift from Europe to the United States. Though both Modernism and Postmodernism employ fragmentation, discontinuity and decentredness in theme and technique, the basic dissimilarity between the two schools is hidden in this very aspect.

Modernism projects the fragmentation and decentredness of contemporary world as tragic. It laments the loss of the unity and centre of life and suggests that works of art can provide the unity, coherence, continuity and meaning that is lost in modern life. Thus Eliot laments that the modern world is an infertile wasteland, and the fragmentation, incoherence, of this world is effected in the structure of the poem. However, The Waste Land tries to recapture the lost meaning and organic unity by turning to Eastern cultures, and in the use of Tiresias as protagonist

In Postmodernism, fragmentation and disorientation is no longer tragic. Postmodernism on the other hand celebrates fragmentation. It considers fragmentation and decentredness as the only possible way of existence, and does not try to escape from these conditions.

This is where Postmodernism meets Poststructuralism —both Postmodernism and Poststructuralism recognize and accept that it is not possible to have a coherent centre . In Derridean terms, the centre is constantly moving towards the periphery and the periphery constantly moving towards the centre. In other words, the centre, which is the seat of power, is never entirely powerful. It is continually becoming powerless, while the powerless periphery continually tries to acquire power. As a result, it can be argued that there is never a centre, or that there are always multiple centres. This postponement of the centre acquiring power or retaining its position is what Derrida called differance . In Postmodernism’s celebration of fragmentation, there is thus an underlying belief in differance , a belief that unity, meaning, coherence is continually postponed.

The Postmodernist disbelief in coherence and unity points to another basic distinction between Modernism and Postmodernism. Modernism believes that coherence and unity is possible, thus emphasizing the importance of rationality and order. The basic assumption of Modernism seems to be that more rationality leads to more order, which leads a society to function better. To establish the primacy of Order, Modernism constantly creates the concept of Disorder in its depiction of the Other—which includes the non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual, non-adult, non-rational and so on. In other words, to establish the superiority of Order, Modernism creates the impression- that all marginal, peripheral, communities such as the non-white, non-male etc. are contaminated by Disorder. Postmodernism, however, goes to the other extreme. It does not say that some parts of the society illustrate Order, and that other parts illustrate Disorder. Postmodernism, in its criticism of the binary opposition, cynically even suggests that everything is Disorder.

Jean Francois Lyotard

The Modernist belief in order, stability and unity is what the Postmodernist thinker Lyotard calls a metanarrative . Modernism works through metanarratives or grand narratives, while Postmodernism questions and deconstructs metanarratives. A metanarrative is a story a culture tells itself about its beliefs and practices.

Postmodernism understands that grand narratives hide, silence and negate contradictions, instabilities and differences inherent in any social system. Postmodernism favours “mini-narratives,” stories that explain small practices and local events, without pretending universality and finality. Postmodernism realizes that history, politics and culture are grand narratives of the power-wielders, which comprise falsehoods and incomplete truths.

Having deconstructed the possibility of a stable, permanent reality, Postmodernism has revolutionized the concept of language. Modernism considered language a rational, transparent tool to represent reality and the activities of the rational mind. In the Modernist view, language is representative of thoughts and things. Here, signifiers always point to signifieds. In Postmodernism, however, there are only surfaces, no depths. A signifier has no signified here, because there is no reality to signify.

Jean Baudrillard

The French philosopher Baudrillard has conceptualized the Postmodern surface culture as a simulacrum. A simulacrum is a virtual or fake reality simulated or induced by the media or other ideological apparatuses. A simulacrum is not merely an imitation or duplication—it is the substitution of the original by a simulated, fake image. Contemporary world is a simulacrum, where reality has been thus replaced by false images. This would mean, for instance, that the Gulf war that we know from newspapers and television reports has no connection whatsoever to what can be called the “real” Iraq war. The simulated image of Gulf war has become so much more popular and real than the real war, that Baudrillard argues that the Gulf War did not take place. In other words, in the Postmodern world, there are no originals, only copies; no territories, only maps; no reality, only simulations. Here Baudrillard is not merely suggesting that the postmodern world is artificial; he is also implying that we have lost the capacity to discriminate between the real and the artificial.

Fredric Jameson

Just as we have lost touch with the reality of our life, we have also moved away from the reality of the goods we consume. If the media form one driving force of the Postmodern condition, multinational capitalism and globalization is another. Fredric Jameson has related Modernism and Postmodernism to the second and third phases of capitalism. The first phase of capitalism of the 18th -19th centuries, called Market Capitalism, witnessed the early technological development such as that of the steam-driven motor, and corresponded to the Realist phase. The early 20th century, with the development of electrical and internal combustion motors, witnessed the onset of Monopoly Capitalism and Modernism. The Postmodern era corresponds to the age of nuclear and electronic technologies and Consumer Capitalism, where the emphasis is on marketing, selling and consumption rather than production. The dehumanized, globalized world, wipes out individual and national identities, in favour of multinational marketing.

It is thus clear from this exposition that there are at least three different directions taken by Postmodernim, relating to the theories of Lyotard, Baudrillard and Jameson. Postmodernism also has its roots in the theories Habermas and Foucault . Furthermore, Postmodernism can be examined from Feminist and Post-colonial angles. Therefore, one cannot pinpoint the principles of Postmodernism with finality, because there is a plurality in the very constitution of this theory.

Postmodernism, in its denial of an objective truth or reality, forcefully advocates the theory of constructivism—the anti-essentialist argument that everything is ideologically constructed. Postmodernism finds the media to be a great deal responsible for “constructing” our identities and everyday realiites. Indeed, Postmodernism developed as a response to the contemporary boom in electronics and communications technologies and its revolutionizing of our old world order.

Constructivism invariably leads to relativism. Our identities are constructed and transformed every moment in relation to our social environment. Therefore there is scope for multiple and diverse identities, multiple truths, moral codes and views of reality.

The understanding that an objective truth does not exist has invariably led the accent of Postmodernism to fall on subjectivity. Subjectivity itself is of course plural and provisional. A stress on subjectivity will naturally lead to a renewed interest in the local and specific experiences, rather than the and universal and abstract; that is on mini-narratives rather than grand narratives.

Finally, all versions of Postmodernism rely on the method of Deconstruction to analyze socio-cultural situations. Postmodernism has often been vehemently criticized. The fundamental characteristic of Postmodernism is disbelief, which negates social and personal realities and experiences. It is easy to claim that the Gulf War or Iraq War does not exist; but then how does one account for the deaths, the loss and pain of millions of people victimized by these wars? Also, Postmodernism fosters a deep cynicism about the one sustaining force of social life—culture. By entirely washing away the ground beneath our feet, the ideological presumptions upon which human civilization is built, Postmodernism generates a feeling of lack and insecurity in contemporary societies, which is essential for the sustenance of a capitalistic world order. Finally, when the Third World began to assert itself over Euro-centric hegemonic power, Postmodernism had rushed in with the warning, that the empowerment of the periphery is but transient and temporary; and that just as Europe could not retain its imperialistic power for long, the new-found power of the erstwhile colonies is also under erasure.

In literature, postmodernism (relying heavily on fragmentation, deconstruction, playfulness, questionable narrators etc.) reacted against the Enlightenment ideas implicit in modernist literature – informed by Lyotard’s concept of the “metanarrative”, Derrida’s concept of “play”, and Budrillard’s “simulacra.” Deviating from the modernist quest for meaning in a chaotic world, the postmodern. writers eschew, often playfully, the possibility of meaning, and the postmodern novel is often a parody of this. quest. Marked by a distrust of totalizing mechanisms and self-awareness, postmodern writers often celebrate chance over craft and employ metafiction to undermine the author’s “univocation”. The distinction between high and low culture is also attacked with the employment of pastiche, the combination of multiple cultural elements including subjects and genres not previously deemed fit for literature. Postmodern literature can be considered as an umbrella term for the post-war developments in literature such as Theatre of the Absurd , Beat Generation and Magical Realism .

Postmodern literature, as expressed in the writings of Beckett, Robbe Grillet , Borges , Marquez , Naguib Mahfouz and Angela Carter rests on a recognition of the complex nature of reality and experience, the role of time and memory in human perception, of the self and the world as historical constructions, and the problematic nature of language.

Postmodern literature reached its peak in the ’60s and ’70s with the publication of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Lost in the Funhouse and Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth , Gravity’s Rainbow, V., and Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon , “factions” like Armies in the Night and In Cold Blood by Norman Mailer and Truman Capote , postmodern science fiction novels like Neoromancer by William Gibson , Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and many others. Some declared the death of postmodernism in the ’80’s with a new surge of realism represented and inspired by Raymond Carver . Tom Wolfe in his 1989 article Stalking the Billion-Footed Beas t called for a new emphasis on realism in fiction to replace postmodernism. With this new emphasis on realism in mind, some declared White Noise in (1985) or The Satanic Verses (1988) to be the last great novels of the postmodern era.

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Postmodern film describes the articulation of ideas of postmodernism trough the cinematic medium – by upsetting the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization and destroying (or playing with) the audience’s “suspension of disbelief,” to create a work that express through less-recognizable internal logic. Two such examples are Jane Campion ‘s Two Friends, in which the story of two school girls is shown in episodic segments arranged in reverse order; and Karel Reisz ‘s The French Lieutenant’s Woman, in which the story being played out on the screen is mirrored in the private lives of the actors playing it, which the audience also sees. However, Baudrillard dubbed Sergio Leone ‘s epic 1968 spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West as the first postmodern film. Other examples include Michael Winterbottom ‘s 24 Hour Party People, Federico Fellini ‘s Satyricon and Amarcord, David Lynch ‘ s Mulholland Drive, Quentin Tarantino ‘s Pulp Fiction.

In spite of the rather stretched, cynical arguments of Postmodernism, the theory has exerted a fundamental influence on late 20th century thought. It has indeed revolutionized all realms of intellectual inquiry in varying degrees.

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Essay 1 Feminism and Postmodernism

Published: September 2015
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The essay considers the meaning of ‘postmodernism’ in a philosophical (as distinct e.g. from artistic) context. This work of informal analysis is intended to facilitate discussion of what attitude a feminist, i.e. someone hoping to see an end to female subordination, might reasonably adopt towards ‘postmodern’ tendencies. The selected postmodern phenomena all display some negativity towards the unifying impulse (both ethical and epistemological) of Enlightenment ideology, and of the rationalist or universalist politics inspired by it. These phenomena are organized under the headings ‘dynamic pluralism’, ‘quiet pluralism’, and ‘pluralism of inclination’, focusing respectively on questions of legitimation, tradition, and the ethical status of pleasure. Under each heading, reasons are suggested why feminists should be wary of assuming that postmodernist thinking will be helpful to their cause.

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Postmodernism and Fashion Identity

Updated 04 August 2023

Subject Identity

Downloads 55

Topic Fashion

Subculture and Streetstyle, and a Fashion Identity as an Expression of Postmodern Values

The concepts of streetstyle and subculture can lead to the development of fashion identity to express postmodern values (McDonough and Braungart, 2010, p. 481). Postmodernism is a term that describes a wide range of change in thinking to start from 1970s. Although it can be difficult to define it, in general, it refers to criticism of identities and be explained as a movement against philosophical reactions and assumption of the modern period of westerns (Chris, 2012, p. 39; Wood, 2014, p. 143). The subculture is a concept in which individuals or groups have norms and values distinct from those held by majority or parents. On the other hand, streetstyle is fashion associated with youth culture. The concept will be used to describe fashion identity as an expression of postmodern values.

Teddy boys group is one of the subcultures that demonstrate fashion identity as an expression of post-modernity. The earlier youth had specific dressing code or share a similar style of clothing in the early 19th century. At the time of the teddy boys, fashion was a serious matter for the youth whether they wanted to go to work, occasion or school. The member of the group would sometime wear clothes with velvet trim collar and pocket flaps, brightly coloured socks and high-waist trousers, as well as large crepe-soled shoes (Kirby, 2009, p. 294). Their consumer also includes a high-necked loose collar on white shirts and narrow ties and always created something out of the normal. The preferred hairstyle included long, strongly geared up hair. The main looks involved wearing a standard black leather jacket and denim jeans. They had overall tailored appearance and their clothes were not designed to be practical or function for anything else except to promote the "bad boy" image. Teenage girls wore circular or dirndl skirts with huge appliqués. Often, they wore neatly pleated skirts tailored from new material that allowed them to maintain sunray pleating. The skits were usually supported using bouffant paper made of nylon. Further, they wore front to back cardigans on top, neck blouse, three-quarter sleeves or tight polo necks with a scarf on their necks (Andreas, 2014, para 2). The Teddy boy look spread across the world and teenager identified with their style as it was something that never existed before. The females further similar as the males with distinctive hobble or pencil style skirts. Their style demonstrated value for post-modernity. In particular, they were a sign of rebellion in the 1950s (Harrod, 1999, p. 214). The males and females stood against the common social norms practiced at the time.

The picture shows Teddy boy members (Source: Andreas, 2014, para 2).

Punk is another subculture and streetstyle group that illustrates the fashion identify as an expression of post-modernity values. The group emerged as a result of Westwood's work and designs created fashion for rebellious youth subculture of London along with Malcolm McLarem (Andreas, 2014, para 2). Westwood collection ushered the end of millennium creating a dialect between modernity and contemporary identities. The punks wore pirate shirts adapted from the old pattern causing a huge shift in fashion and perception of alienation from norms and values practices at the time by viewers. She changed women fashion and wear style masculinizing the females that reflect the fluidity of gender in the contemporary times. Westwood style revealed deconstruction of the social customs. The punk clothing was characterized by individuals wearing ripped or rugged jeans pioneering the streetstyle and by 1980s, Westwood created something completely different (Andreas, 2014, para 2). In particular, the punks wore silk trousers slashed to reveal the inner garments, fraying edges, and chunky knitwear showing no resistance to post-modern culture and fashion. The group treated their cloth material as found of their looks by incorporating new dynamic of how the clothes interacted with their bodies. The tactic can be valued as punk's or Westwood's postmodern feminism leading to the establishment of corporeal identity by creating almost new fashion style which people associated with strongly (Andreas, 2014, para 2).

The picture illustrates a punk member (Source: Andreas, 2014, para 2).

At the same time, the wide range of quality of fabric, silhouettes, and colours among other aspects reflect the fragmentation and open of post-enlightenment. Further, the emphasis on punk style and dress code is the most distinctive feature of this streetstyle and subculture in the postmodern societies. The adopted fashion system with well-articulated rules opposite of modern period norms and philosophies establishes pluralization (Moore, 2004, p. 181). Punk fashion with their torn shirts, dyed hair, necklaces of toilet chains, safety pins piercing, and mask-line male-up demonstrates effectively the heteroglot and systematicity and disorganization of the late 19th century with a visual culture that characterized the postmodern social regime (Moore, 2004, p. 181). The way the clothes were made, the silhouette created a different status for the wearers. For instance, in the 19th century, exposing the female flesh make person think a person was a prostitute where currently it shows several things such as wanting to attract opposite gender or relaxation (Claire, 2017, Para. 1). The punk challenged the traditional cultural values of the societies today. Further, punk designers like Westwood have been constantly using their influence of postmodernism in their collections to impact streetstyle and subculture drawing their ideas from the past (Moore, 2004, p. 181; Shopper, 2017, Para. 2).

Mod Fashion Identity

Mod, young ladies and men in 1960 are no longer wished to adopt similar dressing code as their parents. They wanted to have their identity, to be heard as well as seen. The sought for changes that influenced every aspect of their lives. Mod fashion was sophisticated male clothing, tailors made suits, thin ties, button-down collar shirts; pointed toes leather shoes, desert boots, and tassel loafers demonstrating a deviation from the modernity to post-modernity (Adamson, 2011, p. 46). Between early and mid-1960's the group continued to push boundaries with the sort of cloth they wore. Females wore short hairstyle, men's trousers or shirts and little make-up. The group's clothing is interpreted differently. At the time, most people avoided been seen walking in vibrant bright colours or outrageous prints. Mod clothing or fashion style meant being individual, putting on a unique item that no one else did (Adamson, 2011, p. 46). The members often had their clothes tailored and altered frequently. They commonly changed their appearance as major part of being mod

The picture shows the colourful clothes of mod subculture (Source: An International Critique, 2014, Para. 3).

The group kept rivalry with Rockers, another subculture because of their difference in ideas. However, the middle of such influx to express identity, models such as Twiggy acted as an icon for mod fashion. Their style was closely related to music and the influence it has on the young women and men, which allowed them to subvert the old-fashion practices of the 1960s and gave identify and voice to the nonconformist's persons looking to rebel against the confines of the state and society (Fortyand Cameron, 1995, p.205). Places such as London's Carnaby Street becomes a major focal point for the mod with shops such as Mod Male, Lady Jane, and Lord John being the primary centres for the purchasing the cloths. The mod fashion continues to develop with adopting of other styles like the fishtail parkas; patterned shirts tone trousers, and Harrington jacket. Therefore, the London movement formed one of the important forces for the movement. Additionally, it is imperative to state that appearance and style were dominant principles of mod subculture with polka suit, checked tailor-made suits, skinny ties and floral and paisley button-up pointed collar shirts (MacCarthy and Morris, 2014, p. 40). Their fashion became commercialized as their identity and symbol the members associated with the current subculture. In essence, the existence of mod proves how trends within streetstyle and subculture establish as the core of a group's fashion identity and an expression of post-modern values.

Hipsters fashion embodies the post-modern aspect of their subculture. They are considered the most post-modern subjects. In 2000, hipsters consisted of a typical modern group that dressed like pimps to distinguish them from others (An International Critique, 2014, Para. 3). The emerged as widely known subculture as compared to mod, Teddy boys and punks because of the effort to challenge the gender philosophies held by western modernity. A considerable part of the gender differentiation is expressed aesthetically. The subculture is known as subculture wave of increasing postmodern society. a typical made hipster displays some of the following appearances or clothing: moccasins, tight-fitted jeans of assorted saturated colors, plain v-neck t-shirt, tattoos, a large beard, flannel shirt, wool cardigans, fixed gear bikes, second hand t-shirts, suspenders, and large glasses (Birringer, 2013, p. 18). On the other hand, female hipsters wear large flower headbands, vintage sundresses, sandals, assorted scarves, tattoo, skinny jeans, v-neck t-shirt, and vest. Notably, the tight jeans are a common feature for both females and males. The female hipster fashion style borrows from the stereotypical image females. Similarly, ladies demonstrate masculine characteristics like large tattoos. The fashion is a reflection of rejection of the modernity and acceptance of post-modernity where gender behaviors are not perceived to be a major issue. In other words, hipsters conformed to new gender customs, values and norms conforming to their culture. Male dominance has been a major issue in the past (Boyle, 2003, p. 186; Filler, Adamson and Pavitt, 2011, p. 844). In 1900s, men were perceived to be the superior gender as compared to their counterparts (An International Critique, 2014, Para. 3). However, hipsters challenge this norm and strive to achieve equality as expressed in the fashion style.

The photo shows members of hipster (Source: An International Critique, 2014, P. 3).

Skinheads are members of a subculture that originated from London in 1960s and spread in different parts of the United Kingdom and the world in 1980s. They were motivated by alienation of the working class solidarity at the time. The group wears long or short sleeve, polo shirts, v-neck, fitted blazers, cardigan sweaters, Harrington jacket and sometimes suits (Svarc, 2014, para.4). Further, most are seen wearing flat-fronted slacks, short jeans to show boots. In addition, they wear bracelets in various colors, usually more than one from different regions for distinct meaning. From the late 1970s, male skinhead shaved their head almost completely. However, in 1980s, some male clipped their hairs. On the other hand, the females had a hairstyle like that of mod with some having shorter punk styles version (Hebdige, 2015, p. 179. Majority of the members wear boots with laces.

Picture 5: The photo shows members of skinheads (Source: Svarc, 2014, para.4).

At infancy, skins were mod members who liked fighting their differences led to their split. The individual's fashion identity is linked to a Jamaican and Indian culture, which forms one of the post-modern aspects of their style, which is completely different to modern subculture. Another element if their fashion identity is the adoption of black fashion methods, which was not appreciated by the white youths before (Sparke, 2013, p. 104). The group mostly existed at a period when West Indian and white working class youth began spending time together, which made change more plausible. The skinhead played a fundamental role in propagating the acceptance of other culture in the white communities. They appreciated the West Indian because their styles were compatible with one another. They led acceptance of diversity by white working class, which become expression of rebellion from the norms (Sparke, 2013, p. 104). The group's fashion identity is directly related to race relations.

Post-modernity can be described as a criticism of modern period, especially, with regard to western philosophies, values, and norms. On the other hand, subculture is a concept that a group of people has customs and beliefs different from others. Subculture and streetstyle are major theories that explain how fashion can be used as an expression of post-modernity. Groups such as Teddy boys, mod, punk, hipsters and skinheads' fashion identity express post-modernity values. Each group challenged the modern sociology and philosophy by showing different personal attitude, and clothing design leading to the deconstruction of the previously held traditions. The Teddy boy look spread across the world and teenager identified with their style as it was something that never existed before. Their style demonstrated value for post-modernity. Punks lead to the development of postmodern feminism and established corporeal identity by creating almost new fashion style, which people associated with strongly. Mod further proves how trends within streetstyle and subculture establish as the core of a group's fashion identity and an expression of post-modern values. Hipsters conformed to new gender customs, values and norms conforming to their culture. Male dominance has been a major issue in the past. The skinhead played a crucial role in propagating the acceptance of other culture in the white communities.

Adamson, G., 2011. Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970 to 1990. V&A publications, pp. 279-381

An International Critique. 2014. Subversive style at the end of hipster, post-modernity and liberalism. Available at: https://internationalcritique.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/subversive-style-at-the-end-of-history-hipsters-post-modernism-and-neo-liberalism/

[Accessed Feb. 28, 2018]

Andreas, H., 2014. Vivienne Westwood: the punk priestess goes postmodern. Available at: http://www.thestylecon.com/2014/01/15/vivienne-westwood-punk-priestess-goes-postmodern/#!prettyPhoto

Birringer, J., 2013. Bauhaus, constructivism, performance. PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, 35(2), pp.39-52.

Boyle, D., 2003. Authenticity Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life.

Chris, A., 2012. Makers: The new industrial revolution. New York: Crown Business.

Claire, M., 2017. Anarchy in the UK: A brief history of punk fashion. Available at: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/fashion/a-brief-history-of-punk-fashion-79145

Filler, M., Adamson, G. and Pavitt, J., 2011. Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970-1990.

Forty, A. and Cameron, I., 1995. Objects of desire: design and society since 1750

(p. 207). London: Thames and Hudson.

Harrod, T., 1999. The crafts in Britain in the 20th century. Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. Yale University Press

Hebdige, D., 2015. Subculture: The meaning of style. Critical Quarterly, 37(2), pp.120-124.

Kirby, A., 2009. Digimodernism: How new technologies dismantle the postmodern and reconfigure our culture. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

MacCarthy, F. and Morris, W., 2014. Anarchy & Beauty: William Morris and His Legacy, 1860-1960. Yale University Press.

McDonough, W. and Braungart, M., 2010. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things. North point press.

Moore, R., 2004. Postmodernism and punk subculture: Cultures of authenticity and deconstruction. The Communication Review, 7(3), pp.305-327.

Shopper, C., 2017. Vivienne Westwood Punk? Yes. Political? Maybe. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/fashion/vivienne-Westwood-punk-political-manhattan-store-shopping.html

Sparke, P., 2013. An introduction to design and culture: 1900 to the present. Routledge.

Svarc, L., 2014. What is skinhead subculture? Influence, style, culture and typical fashion labels from the 1960s to the present day. Available at: https://www.menswearstyle.co.uk/2014/04/28/what-is-skinhead-subculture/1107 [Accessed Feb. 28, 2018]

Wood, G. ed., 2014. Surreal things: Surrealism and design. Abrams & Chronicle Books.

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Connor 1997 focuses on postmodernism as the key to late-20th-century culture, discussing its impact in areas ranging from legal theory to style and fashion. Sim 2011 collects thoughtful essays on diverse aspects of postmodernism and provides a glossary of postmodern terms.
Fashion, Dress and Post-postmodernism
This book expands on the nascent scholarship of post-postmodernism to highlight how dress, fashion, and appearance are reflections of this new age. The volume starts with a discussion of fashion, subjectivity, and time and an analysis of temporality, technology, and fashion in post-postmodern times. Later chapters analyse the work of design ...
Postmodernism
Postmodernism - Literary Theory and Criticism
Postmodern Fashion Essay
Deconstruction fashion is a part of the postmodern fashion. Therefore, initially the essay will discuss the characteristics of postmodern fashion and post modernism …show more content…" Postmodernism is "a late 20th-century style and concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism ...
Grunge Fashion: A Textual Analysis Of Postmodernism
This textual analysis aims to explore the way in which the 1990s grunge fashion trend was intrinsically postmodern. This analysis seeks …show more content…. A number of media texts have changed and adapted original experiences to the point that "reality" is only identified when it is duplicated in simulation. Truth and reality are ...
Fashion And Technology: Postmodernism, Fashion, And Fashion
This essay is looking into Postmodernism, fashion and Technology; touching on Art, Technology and Fashion. Delving into theories such as; Jean Bauldrillard's consumer society, name here and Malcom Barnard's Fashion Theory. Postmodernism is a term that has been widely used over the last two decades, as 'after the modernist movement ...
Importance Of Postmodernism In Fashion
Postmodernism in fashion has developed over the past twenty years with designers such as Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood... Essays Topics
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Essay 1 Feminism and Postmodernism
The essay considers the meaning of 'postmodernism' in a philosophical (as distinct e.g. from artistic) context. This work of informal analysis is intended to facilitate discussion of what attitude a feminist, i.e. someone hoping to see an end to female subordination, might reasonably adopt towards 'postmodern' tendencies.
Modernism to Postmodernism in Fashion and Design Essay
Summary. The essay explores modernism and postmodernism and its relation to fashion and design. Through theatre, cultural movements, politics, music and changing economics, the fields of fine art and fashion have often co-existed in close harmony with one another. …. Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing.
Essay on Postmodernism in Fashion
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Postmodernism
Postmodernism - Wikipedia ... Postmodernism
PDF bell hooks, "Postmodern Blackness ," from Yearning: Race, Gender, and
Working with this insight in his essay "Putting the Pop Back into Postmodernism;" Lawrence Grossberg comments: The postmodern sensibi lity appropriates practices as boasts that announce their own-and consequently our own existence, like a rap song boas ting of the imaginary (or real—it makes no difference) accomplishments of the rapper.
Postmodernism and Fashion Identity
The individual's fashion identity is linked to a Jamaican and Indian culture, which forms one of the post-modern aspects of their style, which is completely different to modern subculture. Another element if their fashion identity is the adoption of black fashion methods, which was not appreciated by the white youths before (Sparke, 2013, p. 104).

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Postmodernism by Hans Bertens LAST REVIEWED: 28 August 2019 LAST MODIFIED: 28 August 2019 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780190221911-0081

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